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Message: <blockquote data-quote="squibbles" data-source="post: 8331213" data-attributes="member: 6937590">I have tried to avoid this thread, so as not to threadcrap. But, apologies, I couldn't help myself. (I also may have missed some things in the thread's 34 pages)Two things are getting mixed up in the argument here; a gods-eye view of Dark Sun and the player-experienced part of Dark Sun.It doesn't have to be common knowledge among the people of Athas that the sun will become a red giant and consume the planet, that every person is doomed to a gray purgatory after death, and that there is no escape from these conditions. It certainly doesn't have to be something that PCs or NPCs ever mention. All that super-bleak stuff is background fluff which shouldn't really inform the mood of Dark Sun.Dark Sun's flavor isn't grimdark or gritty, so much as brutal. It's Barsoom (also a doomed planet, fyi), not Mork Borg or Game of Thrones.That said, I think it's a mistake for restoring the planet to be on the table. Athas really is a dead world moving slowly towards lifelessness. The hope that's available should be to temporarily improve local circumstances--at the level of a city, village, or sub-region. It undermines the central theme of the setting--the irredeemable badness of defiling magic and selfishness of defilers--to allow the Athas to be fixed. It also shouldn't be a starting assumption that PCs are trying to make Athas a better place, there are lots of other things players might want to do if they are free to choose.But you don't have to be a hero. The setting works great for survivors, anti-heroes, and picaresques too--hope for selfish things like revenge, making a big score, or living for another day are equally valid PC motivations. Keep in mind, Conan and Mad Max, whom you referenced above, are rarely heroes; they don't usually help other people until circumstances force them to.So, having now senselessly argued that someone is wrong on the internet, here's a hopefully more useful contribution to the thread:You're spot on that defiling should be the default for arcane magic and that preservers should be weaker than in standard 5e. But I think the third point is mistaken. You should want there to be a wizard in the party and want that player to struggle with deciding whether to defile (...but just this once).The central conceit of the setting is that defiling is very attactive and powerful. So, while making preserving weaker than standard 5e rules, make defiling stronger too, with rules that are simple but consequential, and that mimic in microcosm the calculus of the sorcerer kings--a clear benefit in the short term with uncertain and escalating world consequences; for example:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">When defiling, spells are upcast by one level and the caster has advantage on concentration checks.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">When preserving, spells do one die fewer of damage/healing and the caster has disadvantage on concentration checks.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">There is an escalating 1 in 20 chance (i.e. 1/20 -> 2/20 -> 3/20, etc.) each time a caster defiles that the caster develops a visible physical mark of defiling--glowing red eyes, a shimmering heat haze, blackened fingers, etc.--that imposes no penalty, but that cannot be easily removed, and which is instantly recognizable to others.</li> </ul></blockquote>

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